Manchester International Festival is the world’s first festival of original, new work and special events and takes place biennially, in Manchester, UK.
The Festival launched in 2007 as an artist-led, commissioning festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, music, visual arts and popular culture. With a wide-ranging programme and more free events, the second Festival (2-19 July 2009) was designed to be exhilarating, thought-provoking and welcoming to all.
A handful of names from the inaugural Festival have returned to create brand new shows. They were joined by an array of other artists drawn from around the world and covering the cultural spectrum, joined by representatives of the wealth of talent right here in the city itself.
Among the 2009 Festival’s 20 world premieres were Prima Donna, Rufus Wainwright’s debut opera; a double-bill performance by pioneers of contemporary music Kraftwerk and Steve Reich; immersive theatre It Felt Like a Kiss, created by Adam Curtis and Punchdrunk, with music by Damon Albarn; Marina Abramovic Presents…, in which a world-renowned pioneer of a long-durational art curates a unique group show; plus Zaha Hadid’s extraordinary Bach concert chamber, world-leading ballet dancer Carlos Acosta, Jeremy Deller’s uniquely Mancunian Procession, debates, family-friendly activities and international music featuring Antony & the Johnsons, The Young@Heart Chorus, Amadou & Mariam and The Beating Wing Orchestra, Durutti Column and Elbow – among much more.
‘Manchester is the beating cultural heart of Britain’
The Observer July 2007
Festival FAQs
What are the dates of the Festival?
The 2009 Festival runs from Thursday 2 to Sunday 19 July 2009.
What sort of events are in the 2009 Festival?
The 2009 Festival’s programme features a wide range of events and works all specially created for the Festival. They include music, visual arts, theatre, dance, food and family events, some indoor and some outdoor, all presented by world-class artists and co-producers. Many events require tickets, which can be bought via links from each events page on this site. There are also many free events, some of which also require advance booking.
Click here for full information and ticket booking for the 2009 Festival’s programme.
Are there any free events?
Yes – in fact, the 2009 Festival includes a greater range of free events than the 2007 Festival: more than a third of the entire Festival. These include family-friendly events like The Great Indoors, one-off spectaculars like Procession and whole series, like the nightly DJs in the Festival Pavilion. Visitors can experience Marina Abramovic’s landmark long-durational art group show, listen to a lunchtime concert in Zaha Hadid’s stunning concert chamber, absorb a cutting-edge climate-change debate, witness provocative public art by Gustav Metzger and devour the special creations of a team of culinary experts – all free.
Where do the events take place?
The events of the 2009 Festival will take place across the city in a range of established venues including the Palace Theatre, Bridgewater Hall, Opera House, Lowry, Manchester Art Gallery, Royal Exchange Theatre and Whitworth Art Gallery. Some of the Festival’s free events take place in public spaces, such as Manchester Peace Gardens, the Town Hall and Deansgate. Non-traditional venues are also in use, including Manchester Velodrome, an office building in Spinningfields and the Festival’s specially built Pavilion in Albert Square.
Each event’s page on this site gives details of its venue. Click here to view our programme, with links to each event.
How many events are there?
The 2009 Festival features 20 world premieres and several special events in 17 venues across the city, including the Festival’s temporary, pop-up venue, the Pavilion Theatre in Albert Square.
Many of the world premiere events run for several performances across the Festival, giving audiences more opportunities to experience them.
A number of the events will have a life beyond the Festival, both in Manchester and around the world.
How many people attend the Festival?
During the inaugural Festival in 2007 more than 200,000 people attended events or participated in community projects, educational workshops and free events. Even more are anticipated for the second Festival.
Why does Manchester hold an International Festival?
The Manchester International Festival celebrates the city’s pivotal role in music, culture, innovation and the arts and aims to build on the legacy of the hugely successful Commonwealth Games held in 2002. The aim is for the Festival to become a major cultural event in the international calendar, encouraging local, national and international visitors to Manchester and providing opportunities for local communities to participate, volunteer and see world-class artists in their city.
Where does the funding for the Festival come from?
The Festival is a limited company and registered charity with funding from the public and private sectors and income from box office.
How can local people get involved?
There are many opportunities for the public to get involved in the Festival. We are once again running a volunteer scheme through which around 500 people have already applied to help make the Festival a success – click here [link] for more information. Certain commissions also involve local people, such as Procession, which includes people from across Greater Manchester. Furthermore, there is a programme of local involvement in creative skills development workshops and arts education workshops with international and local artists.
What happened at the 2007 Festival?
Among the 25 world premieres in the 2007 Festival were Monkey: Journey to the West, a new opera directed by Chen Shi Zheng composed by Damon Albarn and designed by Jamie Hewlett, and Il Tempo del Postino, a group show by 15 of the world’s leading contemporary artists such as Matthew Barney, Tacita Dean, Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno and Olafur Eliasson; plus new theatre productions including a site-specific work Interiors by Stewart Lee and Johnny Vegas, debates, food inventions by Heston Blumenthal and an international music series featuring PJ Harvey, Lou Reed, Happy Mondays, Kanye West and Gossip.